Light Shines Anew
Chapter 22: Blank
"I heard Taketomi-chan was hounding you to be a commentator for round six on Wednesday, but you turned her down again." Arashiyama said.
"Ah," Jin grinned, taking a refreshing drink of his soda. "Everyone is vying for the attention of the Power Elite, but unfortunately, I am too busy to do commentary right now."
Kakizaki snorted. "I heard Taketomi is coming after you for every round because she somehow sees it as your fault that Tachikawa-san and Kuga kicked her out of her room to look at the rank war footage from last season."
"Yeah, I don't know how she came to that conclusion." Jin replied.
Arashiyama, Kakizaki, and Ikoma all looked up from their lunches to give Jin a deadpanned look.
"Don't even start, Jin. We all know it was by your doing that Tachikawa-san acted that day and Taketomi will not stop hounding you until you pay her back for what happened." Kakizaki scolded.
"I did not invite you guys out for bbq just so you would scold me." Jin complained.
Arashiyama scoffed. "Someone has to do it since you keep ducking that poor girl."
Jin smiled good-naturedly. "I'm not ducking anyone. I really am too busy this week."
"Too busy this week implies you weren't too busy the last few rounds when she asked you." Arashiyama accused.
"It's not fun if she doesn't have to work to get me in the booth." Jin teased.
"Does that mean you'll accept her offer next week?" Ikoma asked, and then pointed at himself. "You should do it for my match next week."
Jin waved off the request. "Nope, no can do. I'm going to be pretty busy."
Kakizaki raised a brow. "Are you going to tell us what with?"
Jin's expression twisted as he thought about that. Quite honestly, he wasn't too sure himself of what the future was telling him. All he knew was that since Galopoula was going to be in range, he needed to go see it for himself. Seeing Yuma in person would certainly help give him a few answers. "I'm not sure myself. I just know something is going to keep me busy." He raised a finger before anyone could say anything else. "I don't see any large invasions right now. We're safe from any Neighbors starting a war with us. There's just something personal I have to deal with."
Arashiyama's brows furrowed in concern. "The last time you were worried about something and said it was personal, you ended up shipping Yuma off for a surgery."
"And that was a personal matter." Jin replied, pausing for a moment as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "And so is this one." He pulled his phone out and opened the text from his boss.
Rindo To Jin
Rindo: Leave of absence was not approved.
Rindo: It was changed into an away mission with the top squads.
Rindo: Be at HQ 8/7 at 9 am.
Jin: Sounds good
"Something good happen?" Kakizaki asked when he saw Jin's smile.
Jin slipped his phone in his pocket. "Just what I expected to happen did happen. This is going to be the last free moment I have for a while so I'm going to enjoy it."
"Is your personal matter that time consuming?" Ikoma asked. "If you're going to be so busy, then let's go to HQ after this and you fight me one last time before you no longer can."
"Sounds fun, but no can do." Jin replied.
"Why?" Ikoma whined.
Kakizaki huffed in amusement. "Because Jin took the number one spot from Tachikawa-san yesterday and then ran off with it."
Jin shot a look towards Kakizaki. "How'd you know?"
"Tomoe said he heard Tachikawa-san complaining about it in the solo rank booths room after you ran away." Kakizaki explained.
Jin laughed. It was always fun to rile up Tachikawa. However, perhaps he should give it a rest since he knew the other agent was going to be on the away ship with him. He took the number one spot and ran away with it for laughs, but he wasn't lying when he also said he was going to be busy. Whatever the coming future meant, it looked like he was going to be busy.
"It's not forever. I'll get back to training eventually." Jin replied.
"Tachikawa-san might go and train with other agents to get the points he needs to surpass you and take the number one spot back." Arashiyama pointed out.
Jin shot him a sharp grin. "That will never happen. It wouldn't feel like a win for him. He'll wait for me to be able to fight him again so he can properly steal it back."
Arashiyama shook his head in disbelief. Tachikawa and Jin were completely ridiculous with their war that had been going on since Jin dropped back down to A-Rank. Well, at least the two were having fun with it and really, that was what was important.
However, as Arashiyama stared at Jin across the table, he saw that despite how Jin was laughing, there was a strain shining in his friend's eyes. It was a look that Arashiyama had become quite familiar with over the past few years he had known his friend. It was a look that came when Jin was stressing about the future and trying to work it out.
If it wasn't an invasion coming, then what was Jin stressing about?
Personal matter.
Jin said personal.
Arashiyama's attention snapped fully to Jin.
"Figured it out?" Jin said upon seeing the realization in Arashiyama's face.
"Yuma?"
Jin grimaced. "Something's wrong. I can't figure out what it is though."
"Is he hurt?" Arashiyama asked, catching the full attention of Kakizaki and Ikoma.
Jin shook his head. "I don't know that much. I just know I need to go see him so I'll be taking a few days off to go visit him. I need to figure out what the problem is."
Go visit.
Jin was heading to the Neighborhood, but Arashiyama and Jin couldn't say that with Kakizaki and Ikoma both present. It wasn't known except by a handful of agents, those that knew of Yuma's Neighbor status, that Yuma went to Galopoula for his surgery.
"Did something go wrong with his surgery?" Kakizaki inquired worriedly.
"Eh, well," Jin scratched his head. "To be honest, I'm in the dark as much as you guys are. I just know my side effect is telling me there is a problem so I need to make a trip to his hospital and since it's not in Mikado City, I'm going to be gone a few days."
"Right." Kakizaki said dubiously, staring at his friend with a frown and suspicious eyes.
"When you see Kuga, tell him to get his ass back here already. I haven't forgotten my revenge." Ikoma demanded. "And he owes us all for passing out in the middle of our rank war."
Jin laughed, grinning at Ikoma's response. "Yes, yes. You can play with Yuma real soon."
*L*S*A*
Two days later:
August 7th: 9:00 am
The moment he entered the conference room, Tachikawa's eyes zeroed in on Jin, who was lounging back in his chair, foot thrown up on the table while he tossed rice crackers in his mouth.
"Jin!" Tachikawa marched over to his friend that had managed to avoid him since Sunday.
"Good morning." Jin said unconcerned as he held his bag out to his friend. "Cracker?"
"That's not something you should be eating for breakfast." Kazama scolded even as Tachikawa took a cracker from the bag, making Kazama roll his eyes. Those two were the definition of two peas in a pod. "So, I guess we were right in assuming this mission has to do with you."
Jin shot Kazama a grin. "I was more than willing to do this alone as I don't need any backup, but Shinoda-san and Kido-san disagreed with my original plan so you guys will be joining me."
"And what is this we're doing?" Toma asked curiously.
"You're heading to Galopoula."
That wasn't Jin.
The group of agents looked over at where Shinoda was sitting further down the table with Kido sitting at the head of the table.
"Heh, this already sounds fun." Toma said.
"It should be a relatively simple mission." Shinoda replied. "Jin doesn't foresee any fighting, but we want to be cautious regardless."
Tachikawa rubbed his chin as he thought over that. "Isn't Galopoula where Kuga went for his surgery?"
"Oh?" Jin said interested. "You knew that?"
"Was I not supposed to? If you don't want people to know these things, don't have Kuga telling people where he is going." Tachikawa snapped.
Jin just grinned at him. "Naw, it's fine. You already know he is a Neighbor, so it's not a big deal if you know where he went."
"Isn't it? We were once enemies with Galopoula and now you're trying to play nice with them." Kazama said.
Jin just waved off Kazama's concerns. "I'm certain that Galopoula will not turn on us. At least, I don't foresee it happening anytime in the near future." He sat up and dropped his feet down from the table to plant them on the floor. "But, I need to go check on Yuma since my side effect is telling me there is a problem. I, apparently, can't be trusted to do this alone though." He shot that part at Kido and Shinoda.
"Don't complain. You're lucky we're letting you do this at all when Galopoula hasn't contacted us yet." Kido replied.
Kazama's eyes narrowed as he looked from Jin to Kido to back to Jin. "If Galopoula hasn't contacted us, can't we assume Kuga isn't ready to come back?"
"Galopoula is in range to us and it's been over two weeks without any news. With the confusing future I'm seeing, I need to go checks things out." Jin replied, shooting a smile towards Kazama. "No need to get annoyed, Kazama-san. This is going to be an easy mission."
"Then you don't need all these A-Ranks. Can I opt out of the mission?" Fuyushima requested as he really didn't want to get on that away ship. "Kazama will be more than enough to keep Jin and Tachikawa in line."
For a moment, Jin just stared at the top three A-Ranked squads as he ate a few more crackers. Though he was looking at the agents, he wasn't really seeing them as he was studying the windows of the future popping up all around them. "Hmm, I would actually prefer if you came with us."
"Huh? You just said you wanted to do this alone and now you want me to come on the mission?" Fuyushima asked. "You just want to see me suffer on the away ship, don't you?"
"Not at all." Jin stood up, crumbling his empty bag of crackers in his hand. He walked around the table and clapped Fuyushima on the shoulder. "At least I don't."
"What does that mean?" Fuyushima demanded, turning to follow Jin out of the room.
Shinoda sighed as the two ran off. "Anyway," He turned his attention to the other agents who had enough sense to wait until the meeting was over. "Jin wants to go to Galopoula to check on Yuma-kun since they are near. If Yuma-kun is deemed well enough by his doctors, you are ordered to bring him back home."
"Sounds simple enough. Do you really need three A-Rank teams and Jin to do this though?" Kazama asked.
"It's just a precaution." Kido replied. Even if Tamakoma was trying to make an alliance with Galopoula, that didn't change the fact that they were going to the Neighborhood. Even if it was to go to a nation that they were making peace with, it didn't' hurt to be cautious. "However, we are not trying to start another war with Galopoula so be on your best behavior when you go there."
Kazama nodded respectfully. "Of course." He looked at his team and jerked his head towards the door as he understood the dismissal without it being said. They didn't need Shinoda or Kido leading them to the away ship as they had done this enough times to know what to do.
"One more thing," Shinoda called, getting his agents to stop. "I'm sure Jin won't forget this, but I want you all to know as well. Make sure to pick up Yuma-kun's Black Trigger as well."
Tachikawa shot a smirk over his shoulder. "Of course we won't forget that."
As the door closed behind them, Izumi folded his hands behind his head and grinned. "Looks like we were right about what this was about."
"Too bad Jin said there weren't going to be any fights. That would have been a lot of fun." Tachikawa replied disappointedly.
Kazama shot him a glare. "We do not want to fight with the people that have Kuga in their hospital."
"How about after he gets released from the hospital?" Tachikawa suggested as a joke which just got him another glare which got him laughing. He wasn't being serious about getting into it with Galopoula. He simply thought it would be quite fun as the fight against the two Galopoula Neighbors back during their invasion had been a lot of fun. Getting to fight them again would have been a joy.
"You should never be allowed on a diplomat mission." Kazama said as they reached the elevator where Jin and Fuyushima were waiting.
Jin shot the agents an amused look as he called for the elevator. "He's not the diplomat. He's the muscle."
"So, what? You're the diplomat?" Tachikawa scoffed.
"I'm a much better choice than you." Jin said before he was dropping his grin and getting serious. "But seriously, don't cause any trouble. I'm going to be contacting Galopoula on our way to let them know we're showing up."
"They don't know yet?" Utagawa asked surprised.
"Uh, no because if we're already on our way, they can't refuse us." Jin replied. He looked up at the top of the elevator to watch as the numbers rose so he could know when it was going to arrive. "Rata wouldn't refuse us anyway. It's just a courtesy so we don't have to deal with an army going on the defensive when an unknown away ship approaches."
"I'm surprised no one else from Tamakoma is coming with us. You would think they would want to be there to see Kuga." Izumi said.
The elevator dinged as it arrived and the doors slid open.
"They don't know about this." Jin admitted.
"You didn't tell them you were going to see Kuga? Harsh." Kikuchihara replied.
"They would have wanted to come, but Tamakoma-2 needs to focus on the B-Rank Wars. Besides, it's not like we're going to be gone for weeks. It's a short trip."
*L*S*A*
"I don't know why I expected anything else from Tamakoma."
Rindo smiled, used to hearing the complaints from Kinuta as they had worked together for four years. He stood off to the side in the hangar as he watched Kinuta and his team get the away ship ready for launch.
"You say you don't want the away ship to send Kuga to Galopoula, and now you want it to send our agents to Galopoula. You never say what you really want. You just expect the rest of to play catch up to your schemes." Kinuta continued to grumble under his breath.
"I appreciate you doing this, Kinuta-san." Rindo said.
It didn't do anything to soothe Kinuta's annoyance as he shot a glare over at Rindo before he got back to finishing up the final touches for the away ship to launch. He would usually have more than two days to get the away ship ready for a mission, but of course, Tamakoma had to wait until the last minute to decide it would be a good idea to go to Galopoula. At the very least, it was made easier because it would be a short mission and they would simply be heading to the nation that was within range. It wouldn't take much traveling for them to get there.
"Even with Galopoula being in range, travel with still take a few hours." Kinuta warned.
"I understand."
"And if something goes wrong in Galopoula, we won't be able to send help to the agents."
"No trouble will occur." Rindo promised. The issue was never about Galopoula. He trusted Jin when he said that Galopoula could be trusted and they weren't the reason for his concern.
Rindo glanced over when he heard a door open and smiled at Jin as he led the other agents into the hangar. "Good morning."
"Morning, Boss." Jin said as he joined his boss near the away ship. He looked up, shielding his eyes as he examined the away ship. "Looking good, Kinuta-san!"
"Jin! You should have made this request sooner than three days ago." Kinuta snapped at him.
"My bad." Jin said with a grin. To be honest, he hadn't known what would be coming since he didn't even know if the surgery was going to be a success or not. Now, though, the future was shifting down a different path, but it looked strange to him. Since Rata knew about his side effect, he figured the prince would know that Jin would see when things were taking a turn. For that reason, he doubted Rata would try anything.
Kinuta sighed and stepped back to join the agents and Rindo. "The away ship is all prepared for your trip."
"You're really in a hurry to get us out of here." Tachikawa said.
"I'm in a hurry to wipe our hands of this deal with Galopoula." Kinuta retorted.
Jin scratched his cheek. Well, this wouldn't end their arrangement with Galopoula. Tamakoma still had every intention of making an alliance with Galopoula and keeping a peace treaty with them for a long time. That was Tamakoma's plan though. It would be beneficial to all of Border, but Jin knew that the other fractions would stay out of the way and let Tamakoma handle the alliances with Neighbors. So, in that sense, it would be out of Kinuta's hair once Yuma was back.
"Well, I appreciate that you approved of it enough to agree with letting Yuma go." Jin said.
Kinuta grunted. "It's not like it was my decision of whether the plan was approved or not. I simply looked into the surgery to see if it was legit." He shot a glare at Jin. "And yet, I feel like when Kuga comes back, his health issues are going to continue to be my problem."
"You are the expert in Research and Development." Jin replied easily. "And think of it this way, the surgery Yuma underwent is unique to Galopoula, we can learn a lot about their use of Trion and Triggers through the information they gave us about this type of surgery."
Kinuta walked away, grumbling under his breath.
"You really know how to get your way with him, don't you?" Izumi said.
"Military intel and intel on Trigger uses are what he cares about the most. He really shouldn't complain about this." Jin replied.
"I doubt Kuga will feel the same." Kazama said sharply. "Don't use him as a lab rat for Kinuta-san to study."
Jin grimaced. "I'm not, but Yuma is going to end up in the medical ward anyway because he's going to need a checkup when he eventually comes home. I'm just saying, it's beneficial for everyone."
"There's nothing beneficial about me coming with you." Fuyushima groaned as he approached the ship to board it. He couldn't believe he was being dragged into a diplomat mission to pick up Yuma. He was probably going to spend most of his time trying not to be sick this whole trip.
"Welcome abroad!" Kunichika greeted cheerfully as the agents began to board the ship. "We're all prepared to head to Galopoula."
"I'm going to go find a bed to die in." Fuyushima said by way of greeting as he walked pass Kunichika, Mikami, and Maki.
Maki rolled her eyes. "Useless captain."
"Hey, hey!" Jin greeted the operators cheerfully.
"Good morning." Mikami shot back from where she was sitting with her computer at the center table. She put a hand up to her headset for a moment as she seemingly listened to something and then turned her attention to the agents. "Kinuta-san says the gate is opening in sixty seconds. Get seated if you don't want to go flying off your feet when we launch."
Jin took a seat as the operators got the ship ready to launch into the Gate. Having been through this plenty of times, Jin relaxed back in seat and as he did, he noticed that Kazama had taken the seat across from him and was just staring at him. Well, staring wasn't the right word. That was another glare.
"Are you glaring at me again?" Jin asked. "What did I do this time?"
"You keep dragging me into your schemes."
Jin raised a brow. "You keep letting yourself get dragged into them. You know how I operate. I've never changed, Kazama-san, so really, this is on you."
"Really?" Kazama drawled. "You want to put this on me?"
"If we want to put it on anyone, can't it be put on Kuga? If he never got hurt to begin with, we wouldn't have to be doing this." Kikuchihara pointed out, barely acknowledging as he felt the away ship shift as Mikami and the other two operators began the launch.
Utagawa shot his teammate a glare. "While that may be true, we are not going to blame a child for getting attacked by an assassin and we definitely aren't going to say that to Kuga's face."
Kikuchihara rolled his eyes. "I never said we blame him for that. I said all of this is happening because of how the past is catching up to him and it is affecting us all by making us go on this last minute mission."
"You know, speaking of, we keep calling this last minute because of how this mission came out of nowhere for us, but what was your actual plan, Jin-san?" Toma asked curiously. "You sent Kuga to Galopoula with the Neighbors, but how did you plan to get him home? Did you plan to go pick him up? Or were you waiting for Galopoula to bring him back?"
Jin shifted forward to rest an arm on the table as the ship leveled out as they entered the Neighborhood and they started to fly straight. "We didn't plan that far ahead."
"You, of all people, didn't plan ahead?" Tachikawa scoffed in disbelief.
"Nope," Jin said with a grin. "We had no idea of what was going to happen with the surgery, whether it would succeed or not or if there would be complications after the surgery. So, we left the details of Yuma coming home on the back burner until the surgery was complete."
"And now we're rushing to Galopoula when they haven't called you to update you on anything." Izumi pointed out.
"Yep," Jin reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver bracelet. "And speaking of, I need to call them." He stood up from his chair, spinning the bracelet on his finger. "Excuse me."
*L*S*A*
"I'm surprised you didn't come to accost me in my office again."
Rindo snorted, biting down on his cigarette as he kept staring up at the sky as Shinoda came to stand by his side. He didn't even know how Shinoda managed to find him on HQ's roof. "I have nothing else I need to fill you in on or get you to agree to so there is no need to corner you in your office." He took a second to glance at his friend to see him staring ahead at the Restricted Zone, frown marring his face, before he looked back at the sky. "Keep frowning like you have been lately and you're going to develop wrinkles before you're forty."
"Maybe I wouldn't be frowning so much if Tamakoma didn't keep finding ways to stress me out." Shinoda retorted.
Rindo chuckled. "Are you worried?"
"Can you say you're not?" Shinoda countered.
"Well, I wouldn't want to be a liar. Kuga-san and Yuma would be mad about that." Rindo said softly. Since they were both human lie detectors, Rindo always made sure to be honest with both of them. He didn't want them to have to deal with their side effect going off from people who knew he had the side effect. It was completely useless to even try with them.
Leaning his arms on the ledge, Shinoda looked down towards the ground as he tried to push his frown away. It just wasn't easy to do. Ever since Rindo came to him the other day with the prediction from Jin that something was wrong, he couldn't get his mind to stop thinking of just what it could be. The worst case would be that Yuma had died and Jin wanted to head to Galopoula to deal with that, but Shinoda didn't think Jin would keep that truth from them so it had to be something different.
The thing was, it could be anything that Jin saw.
It would really help if Jin would just try to talk to them and try to explain what he was seeing, but Shinoda understood why Jin didn't. He saw so many futures and all the different paths everyone's future could take. It made sense that it would be complicated for Jin to sort through them, especially when he didn't know what was happening in Galopoula. He likely wanted to get Yuma in his sight to more clearly read his future.
"I believe Yuma is still alive." Rindo settled on for an answer, breaking Shinoda out of his thoughts. "And whatever it is that Jin saw in the future is something we can deal with. As long as Yuma is alive, then that is all that matters. I trust Jin to handle whatever he needs to take care of in Galopoula and I trust the A-Ranks to have his back. I'm not saying I'm not worried, but I'm not going to doubt the agents' ability to handle whatever gets thrown at them."
"Heh," Shinoda pushed off the ledge and took a step away. "I understand that. I guess what has me worried is us losing Yuma-kun. It feels too much like when Yugo-san left for the Neighborhood and we never saw him again."
Rindo blew out some smoke from his mouth, staring up at the drifting clouds. He supposed he wasn't the only one who felt that way. When he watched Yuma disappear into the Gate weeks ago, he felt the same fear hit him. It made the last couple of weeks with no news unnerving. However, with Jin now moving, it somehow helped settle Rindo's nerves as he knew that answers would be coming soon.
"The difference is Border is much bigger now and we're able to send agents to Yuma's side." Rindo pointed out. Knowing that comrades were moving to check on Yuma really did help. One of the worst feelings was being in the dark about what was happening because it gave the mind to work into overdrive and think of the worst case scenario. Having Jin on the move meant answers were coming and having an idea of what was happening would make this all easier.
Shinoda shot a smile to his friend. "Yes. We failed in helping Yugo-san. Granted, we never knew he needed help, but when Yuma-kun came to us, we saw it as a way to repay our mentor by offering protection to his son and making sure to watch over him."
Rindo smirked. "Is that why you wanted to send more agents with Jin? You wanted to make sure Kuga-san's son would truly be fine."
"Can you blame me for being cautious? That formal treaty of peace with Galopoula hasn't been signed since they wanted to wait until after Yuma-kun's surgery." Shinoda argued.
"I guess not. Being cautious is how we stay alive."
*L*S*A*
Ji_ is _um_e_ o_e.
"What am I looking?" Tachikawa demanded.
"You act like you never played hangman before." Kikuchihara replied.
Tachikawa jabbed the paper on the table. "I know what the game is. That's not what I'm asking and you know it. I know what this says."
"Do you though?" Izumi teased. His captain tended to be pretty oblivious to certain things.
"Who is the hangman master right now?" Tachikawa demanded.
"I am." Kikuchihara said.
Tachikawa's eyes glinted dangerously. He should have known. No one else would be so daring to make that phase for his challenge. "You're a damn brat, you know that, Kikuchihara?"
Kikuchihara just stared back, unimpressed at the older attacker. "At least I'm not a loser."
Izumi quickly shifted seats as his captain lunged forward and grabbed Kikuchihara into a headlock. He ended up sitting next to Kunichika and shot her a smile. "It's really too cramped in here for all their roughhousing."
"It's not like you're any better. It's just that your usually punching bag isn't here." Kunichika said.
"I don't fight in such cramped places."
"Tachikawa-san, Kikuchihara!" Maki slammed a hand on the table as she stood up and glared at the two agents. "Stop roughhousing before you break something in here."
"Ah, Maki-san's no-nonsense or I'll beat you over the head attitude." Izumi whispered to Kunichika, who laughed. This was the good thing about having Fuyushima squad on the away ship. Maki was very good at keeping control of the agents when they got too wild.
It seemed he wasn't quite quiet enough though as Maki's eyes snapped to him and silenced him with that single look. He raised his hands in surrender. That was his own fault. He shouldn't have said anything while she was sitting right across from him.
"By the way, did anyone mention to anyone that we were going on an away mission?" Mikami asked.
"Nope." Izumi replied. "It seemed to be pretty downlow since it was done so quickly so we avoided mentioning it to anyone. Since the higher ups seem to want us to do this quickly, I doubt we'll be gone long enough for anyone to truly notice we weren't at the base for a few days."
"I mentioned it to Arashiyama, Kakizaki, and Ikomacchi." Jin said. "But of those three, only Arashiyama knows that Yuma is in the Neighborhood. The other two are still under the assumption he is simply in a different city for the surgery."
"I can't believe that anyone truly believes Kuga went to a different city for a surgery." Izumi muttered. "We all know about his Trion body and his Black Trigger. They would have to be pretty stupid to think there is a solution in our world that is outside of Border."
Jin hummed thoughtfully as he looked at the city. "It might not be that they believe he is in different city. They just aren't thinking too hard on it. Considering this got the approval of the higher ups, they probably aren't going to argue about what is going on since they really don't get a say in what the higher ups decide so they're just choosing to not question it or think about what is really going on." He looked back at the team and frowned. "The real problem will be the trainees and the new B-Ranks. The ones who don't really know anything about Yuma. It wouldn't normally be an issue, but if the surgery was a success and Yuma got his real body back, his hair will be black. It's a huge difference compared to his white hair. They might start to spread rumors again."
"It's just hair color. It would be real easy to say he dyed it black or better yet, the white was dye and he returned it to normal." Kunichika suggested. "Other than that, there shouldn't be anything for them to question. Kuga's not going to have anything drastically different about him, is he?"
"What about the missing body parts?" Toma pointed out.
"Trion prosthetics." Jin answered. "Although, I don't know how they work so I don't know if they will be noticeable on his real body."
"Even if they are noticeable, they will be hidden under clothes." Kazama pointed out. "And Kuga always has his Trigger activated at HQ and if he doesn't, he was always seen wearing hoodies and jackets. If he decides to start wearing short sleeves after this, it's very easy to say, he didn't before because he was uneasy about showing off that he had prosthetics before now. It's very easy to explain a lot about this away as long as there aren't any drastic changes." He shot a glare at Jin. "However, considering your sudden rush to get to Galopoula, maybe something is drastic that we need to take care of."
"You can glare at me all you like, Kazama-san, but I don't know what the answer is and glaring at me isn't going to suddenly give me the answer."
"It won't take us much longer to reach Galopoula." Maki interrupted the conversation. "Jin-san, are they prepared for our arrival?"
"Yep." Jin replied cheerfully. "I alerted them that we were coming and he is tracking our location to know when to expect us."
Utagawa's brows furrowed in concern. "And what? They were just fine with us showing up today with no prior contact?" That didn't seem right to Utagawa. Sure, they've been to plenty of Neighbor nations on away missions and they went to those places without warning the Neighbors since they had no obligation to them. However, with Galopoula, since Tamakoma was forming an alliance with them, he thought that it would be more appropriate to give more advanced warning.
Jin shrugged. "Rata expected us to do something like this he said. He knew that our worlds were going to be in range with each other in a couple weeks so he considered the fact that we might show up. He'll be meeting us at the arrival point. Ah, speaking of." He reached across the table and grabbed Kikuchihara's paper with his hangman game on it. He ignored the game and quickly scribbled some coordinates on it before spinning it around and pushing it towards Maki. "That's where we need to open the gate to meet them."
Maki quickly read the coordinates and inputted them into her computer. "Understood. We're thirty minutes out."
*L*S*A*
Osamu's eyes scanned the room, confusion running through him. He wasn't particularly looking for Jin, but it was weird that he hadn't seen the agent anywhere in the base all day. Jin didn't spend all day in the base as he went to HQ or he went out to hang out with his friends, but Osamu usually saw him for breakfast at least.
"Are you ready for your match tonight?" Karasuma asked, dragging his student's attention over to him.
Osamu grimaced and sat down across from his mentor. "I would like to think so, but..." He stopped and sighed. "Hyuse wants to make a statement in tonight's match after he learned that the new agents are talking about Kuga."
Karasuma raised a brow, lowering his glass. "What are they saying about Yuma?"
"About being better than him because they wouldn't pass out in a Rank War and how they can take his spot on our team and keep us up in the ranks." Osamu explained, pushing his glasses up as he rubbed at his eyes. He had taken a walk through HQ after hearing what Hyuse said. He didn't spend any time talking to the new agents, but he didn't have to. They had no problem gossiping, completely unaware that people could hear them as they walked passed.
Karasuma joined Osamu in grimacing at those words. "While those are horrible things to say and misguided if they really think they can compete with the top agents, you shouldn't worry about what they are saying. Those words don't truly mean anything."
"I know they don't." Osamu replied with a tired sigh. Anything anyone who didn't know who Yuma was said was completely useless to Osamu. There was nothing they could say about Yuma that anyone who knew him would take at heart value. That didn't mean it didn't make them mad to hear their friend get insulted when he wasn't here. He didn't even do anything except pass out. That was no reason to insult him or say they were better than him.
"That doesn't make it sting any less to hear his name get slandered, does it?" Karasuma said.
"No, it doesn't. More than that, though, I miss him." Osamu admitted. "I wish we knew what was going on in Galopoula."
"Hmm, that's not possible without talking to Galopoula, but maybe Jin-san could give us some insight." Karasuma suggested. "It wouldn't be perfect, but it's possible the future he has been watching has shifted. It's possible he could tell us if Yuma is part of that future or not."
Osamu leaned back in his chair, tapping his finger on the table. He had thought of that possibility a few days ago, but he never approached Jin because he didn't want to put that burden on him. The more that Osamu learned about side effects, the more he realized they didn't sound as convenient as he first thought when he heard about them. It always seemed like those with side effects somehow suffered because of them. He didn't want to ask Jin to look at the future and have to see their friend's funeral.
That's not necessarily what he would see, but Osamu knew that Jin had been reading Yuma's future constantly before he left. Considering the low success of the surgery, he was certain Jin saw Yuma's death and funeral. He didn't want to put that on Jin to see again.
And maybe, just maybe, Osamu was scared to hear what Jin saw.
*L*S*A*
"Good job in your match this morning!" Shun complimented, earning him a scowl from Kageura and a smile from Murakami. "I'm impressed your team managed to stay in the top tier of B-Rank this long, Murakami-senpai."
While Murakami laughed, Kageura shot Shun a look a disbelief. "Do you realize how that is backhanded compliment?"
"Eeeh." Shun's mind seemed to shut down for a moment as he went over what he actually said. "No, wait, that's not what I meant!"
Murakami just laughed and ruffled Shun's hair. "Don't worry about it, Midorikawa. I know what you meant. My team usually only makes it in top tier for a round or two before we get pushed back down."
"I think number five is the highest you've ever made it in top tier." Kageura added, smirking at his friend. "We'll see if you manage to keep it up by the end of the season."
"My goal this season is to beat Tamakoma in the rankings." Murakami replied.
Shun scrunched his eyes in confusion as he looked from Murakami to Kageura as they both seemed to be smirking in amusement. He didn't get what they were implying at all. "Why is that your goal? Why is everyone trying to beat Tamakoma-2 down so hard?"
"One, because Tamakoma-2 will see it as disrespectful if we went easy on them just because they lost a teammate who has to have a life-or-death surgery and they are worrying over that." Murakami explained.
"And two," Kageura held up two fingers. "Because it will make Kuga excited to have to fight to get back to the top. He will see it as fun. I'm sure he'll be excited if he comes and see that his team managed to stay at the top because it will show how strong they are. However, if that's not what happens and they are down in the ranks, he'll easily accept the challenge from us to fight us to take it back."
Shun raised a brow. Well, it seemed like these two thought about this quite hard. Either one that happened would make Yuma excited for what came. The second option was Murakami and Kageura giving it their all in the Rank War and if Tamakoma-2 couldn't handle that without Yuma, then when Yuma came back, it was on him to pull his team forward. Tamakoma-2 was a much stronger team when they had two aces after all.
"Oh, speaking of Yuma-senpai." Shun leaned forward on the table that was between them and lowered his voice. "I heard he told you two his little secret."
"Huh? What secret?" Kageura asked confused.
Shun gave him a deadpan look. "You know, the one."
"The one what?" Kageura snapped.
Shun stared at Kageura, who stared back at him with a scowl. Seeing that he was getting nothing from Kageura, he shifted his attention to Murakami. "Tell me you know what I'm talking about."
"Probably what Kuga told us the day before he left, Kage." Murakami suggested.
"That?" Kageura rolled his eyes. He had completely forgotten about that secret. Well, that wasn't true. It wasn't like he was disregarding what Yuma told them that day as it was important, but at the same thing, it wasn't important. That may not make sense, but it did to him. The whole Neighbor thing was so insignificant to Kageura that he had put the whole conversation out of his mind. "What about it, Midorikawa?"
"You really don't care?" Shun asked. Yuma had shot him a text the night before he left to say that it had all gone well which made him really happy for his friend. He was glad Yuma was getting more and more people who would stand by his side.
"It doesn't matter who he is. I'll kill him all the same." Kageura replied.
Shun snorted. Yep, that sounded like Kageura. As long as he got a good fight, he didn't really care about anything else. Considering Yuma didn't set off his side effect, he wouldn't want to let go of such a good playmate.
"Ow!" Shun cried suddenly, smacking his head on the table as his hands reached down to grab his now throbbing leg. "Did you just kick me?!"
"If you don't want me to kick you, then don't stare at me! You're making me itch with your disgusting feelings!" Kageura snapped.
Murakami sighed as the two fell into a bickering match that would no doubt lead them to the solo rank booths so they could fight this out. He picked up his cup and sipped at his drink as he lounged back in his seat while the two argued it out. As long as no one was bleeding, he was not getting involved in this.
*L*S*A*
Jin waved towards Rata when he saw him sitting on a boulder nearby as he waited for the Border agents. He caught Gatlin and Wen behind him who was watching them warily. "Evening!" He greeted as he approached the small welcoming party. "Thanks for meeting us, Rata!"
Rata looked up, but looked past Jin to see his group. "I see you brought some familiar faces."
"Yo!" Tachikawa greeted. "Still remember our fight, I see."
"How could we not? It was an impressive show of strength on your part." Gatlin replied.
Tachikawa smirked at them. "I would love the chance for us to have a rematch."
"We're not here to train with them." Kazama said sharply.
"Ooh, but that's an awesome idea, don't you think?" Izumi suggested. "Once Tamakoma gets their alliance with Galopoula finalized, we should have a day where we have joint training with them."
Tachikawa snapped his finger at his teammate. "I love that idea."
Rata blinked at the agents in front of him. They were certainly a lot more easy going than he thought they would be after they attacked them a few months ago. He hadn't interacted with the agents outside of the Tamakoma branch since that night so he hadn't been sure of what to expect when Jin contacted him a few hours ago to warn him that he was on his way and he would be bringing agents from HQ with him.
He did not expect these agents to be aware of their pending alliance or be okay with it.
"I believe you came here to see your comrade." Wen interrupted, waving an arm down the nearby path that led to the city. "Can we stay on track?"
"So, his surgery was a success?" Jin asked as he followed the Neighbors as they took the lead.
Even as he walked forward, he watched from the corner of his eye as Kazama put a hand to his comms in his ears to speak to Mikami as the operators would be staying on the away ship. Fuyushima had stayed behind with them as he was recovering from being seasick which also meant the operators had someone who could watch out for them in case something happened. He wasn't a big fighter, but he had his traps that he could lay in defense if they got attacked. However, Jin didn't see anything like that occurring. He knew it would reassure the girls though so it worked out.
"Why don't we save that conversation for when we get to the hospital?" Rata suggested.
That was not a good sign.
Something definitely happened with the surgery.
"Can we know if he is alive at least?" Izumi asked.
"He is." Gatlin promised. "There were just some minor complications."
"Considering how risky the surgery was, that doesn't sound too bad." Toma said, but he also knew Jin wouldn't have dragged them to Galopoula if he wasn't worried about something.
Rata glanced over at Jin as he was the one he was most familiar with. "Sorry for not contacting you when we got into communication range. I was hoping for some improvements from Yuma before I called you. However, considering the circumstances, perhaps that was the wrong call. You can probably handle this better than we can."
Well, this kept sounding worse and worse. Why would Rata think the Border agents would be of better use then their doctors and engineers?
*L*S*A*
Knock. Knock.
"Doctor Deacon, apologies for the abrupt meeting."
A man that seemed to around Shinoda's age exited the office, allowing his eyes to scan over each of the members of the group before they finally settled on Rata. "Good evening, your highness."
"Highness?" Izumi hissed softly and got an elbow in his side from Utagawa in reply. That was unfair. Based on the looks of the other agents, minus Jin, it seemed that none of them knew who they were dealing with. They had a member of royalty with them and Jin didn't see that as necessary for them to know.
Rata motioned to his guest. "These are the agents from Border. They are Yuma's comrades."
"Ah, I see." Deacon shifted his attention to the agents, smiling politely at them though it had become a bit strained when he realized who he was dealing with this. "I suppose we should take this to Yuma's room." He started down the room with Rata by his side while Gatlin and Wen stood on the side of the hall to allow the agents to go ahead as they would follow behind the group.
"To begin with, Yuma's surgery occurred thirteen days ago. There were some complications that made the surgery more difficult because of the severity of his injuries and the amount of blood loss he suffered before his body got sealed away." Deacon began as he led the group down to the end of the hall where there was an elevator. He paused as he called the elevator to them. As he waited for its arrival, he turned to face the group of agents as he debated how much to tell them. He didn't want to upset Yuma's comrades, but it was probably best they understood everything as they would have to deal with this without him when Yuma went back home. "He did die once on the table, but we were able to resuscitate him."
Jin's breath caught in his throat. It was alright. It was alright now. He saw that future happen at one point, but Deacon and Rata were promising that Yuma was alive now. They managed to bring him back. It was all okay now. Deacon was simply giving them the facts of the surgery. The surgery was over now and Yuma was alive.
Deacon waved the agents into the elevator that had arrived before getting on himself.
"Was he dead for long?" Utagawa asked in concern. Not breathing, heart not beating, for a long time was dangerous. It could cause complications. He looked at Jin out of the corner of his eyes. Would those complications be enough to cause Jin concern to want to come here?
"It was about a minute." Deacon replied. He shot a smile towards the agents. "Your friend is a fighter."
"A very stubborn fighter." Rata added.
Jin smiled as the elevator doors opened. Yuma was always strong, but having something to fight for, something that he wanted wholeheartedly, made him stronger. It made them all stronger when there was something behind them that they wanted to keep safe. Jin didn't care what Tachikawa said about spirit not mattering in a battle. He thought spirit and drive was a wonderful component to someone learning to fight because it gave them a reason to want to stand up and fight.
Deacon brought the group to a stop outside a closed door. Through the small window on the door, Jin glanced in through it and saw a small boy with black hair sitting on the bed in the room. From this angle, Jin could see the arm that was wrapped tightly in bandages.
Jin stared at the small body. The futures began to flash in front of his eyes. For the moment, Jin pushed them all to the side. He found the one future that was immediate. The one where Jin entered the room to see Yuma and he saw that face turn towards him. He saw one eye looking at him with a strange look in it while the other was hidden by bandages.
Without thinking about it, Jin slid the door open.
What did that look mean, Yuma?
"Ah, wait." Deacon called.
It was too late as Jin had stepped into the room. The noise of the arrival had Yuma turning to the doorway, frowning at Jin as one visible brow furrowed.
"Yuma." Jin called, feeling relief at seeing his friend in person for the first time in weeks and that he was alive, but he also felt his heart drop.
Why was Yuma giving him such a strange look?
Where was his big smile at seeing his friends again after weeks?
"Who are you?"
Jin felt an ice-cold chill run down his back, heart dropping to his stomach.
That frown that should have been a smile upon seeing his friends in Galopoula.
The eye that looked at him suspiciously.
It was a look of a lack of recognition shining in those ruby red eyes.